Spotify

Sunday (12/6) Bryan McPherson will be in Kansas City and he’s super rad. His fiery acoustic tunes have taken him around the world, including long runs with The Dropkick Murphys. His new album, Wedgewood, was inspired in party by Occupy and got him banned from Disney. He’s just the right kind of nice guy rabble–rouser. The show will be at Records With Merritt, which is an amazing record store and one of the best places to see all-ages music in Kansas City. I’ll be playing, along with other locals Dead Ven (2 piece version) and Slow Motion Commotion. More info about all the bands are below.

Bryan McPherson is originally from Boston but we met years ago on the West Coast. His humble, passionate honest songwriting is contagious and I’m excited he’s coming back to Kansas City.

Here is a spotify playlist of songs I’ve written about my hometown of Roseburg, Oregon. The community recently experienced a great loss from a horrific college shooting. Umpqua Community College was my first college and I have many memories from time spent on the campus. My heart is heavy.

Traveling troubadour Nate Allen is better known as one-half of the uplifting, neon-hued folk punk duo Destroy Nate Allen. Backed by his sometimes-band The Pac-Away Dots, Take out the Trash is his first solo effort since 2006. Its ten stripped-down tracks marry his authenticity-over-polish musical sensibility with introspective, socially aware lyrics that pack an emotional wallop without sacrificing his trademark sense of fun. Tracks like “Hunger Pains” and “We Don’t Even Know” challenge listeners to reevaluate their privilege and preconceptions while boasting gang vocals and chord progressions reminiscent of the “kids songs for adults” vibe made famous by Destroy Nate Allen. With plenty of raucous barnburners (“More Money”), quiet and evocative soul-searching (“Photograph”), and even some uncharacteristic darkness (“Goodbye Letter”), Take out the Trash is an eclectic and cathartic must-have. – Kelley O’ Death / Razorcake

Nate’s thoughts on Take Out The Trash:

I had planned to take 2013 off from touring. I was burnt-out, unemployed, and living in my parents’ spare bedroom. I had finished yet another tour with just enough gas money to get home.

Something needed to change. I needed to slow down and apologize for the nonstop pace I had dragged my wife/bandmate, Tessa, through. Staying constantly busy (including going back to college, recording MANY albums and playing over 800 shows since 2007) had earned me press quotes like this: “The stats on local folk-punk duo Destroy Nate Allen are daunting and damn near exhausting even to contemplate” – Willamette Week.

Tessa told me to start a solo project so she could have a break. I listened to her, and in short time wrote an entire album in stark contrast to our bubbly Destroy Nate Allen persona. “Open To Everything” begins the collection of songs with the lines “hating myself for what I have done…” Like much of the album, it’s a song that balances optimism and frailty. “I want to be open to everything, but I don’t want to be broken.” Apparently I have limits.

During this writing season we attended a small, multiracial community group where stories of people’s pain and privilege hit me in new ways. As my friends told me their stories, these songs were my response. I grew up as a 3rd generation timber worker in a very white, working class, West Coast small town. In much the same way that living in San Francisco and reading Shane Claiborne’s The Irresistible Revolution had opened my eyes to homelessness and poverty, I was now becoming aware of how cultural biases and skin color affect people’s experiences in ways I would never have imagined on my own.

On “Social Equality” I contrast my experiences with those of my friends as we share the same streets. “Blinded by innocence, not fearing anyone, walking with great confidence. Chosen by providence, raised with such ignorance, vindication I do seek.” The upbeat “We Don’t Even Know” contains realizations such as “if climbing the ladder defines success, I know I have stepped on someone.” These songs sit next to reflective and mournful tracks about life, death and friendship like Death Is Overrated and Goodbye Letter.

Underneath the bummer is a ribbon of silliness. “More Money” is a goofy blues number mixing real life need with frivolous desire. “Wanted to buy a satellite TV, wanted to buy a VCR, wanted to buy an ice cream sandwich, but no money doesn’t go far!” Throughout the album, when the lyrics take you down, the music is quick to bring you back up again.

As I focused intensely on looking for work, Portland doors kept shutting but Kansas City seemed to open up. There was work to be found, a cheap place to live and an unknown land. We took the jump. Before moving, I dived into recording with a full band, wanting to document what the songs had become. This was a Portland record, and I had no idea how relevant it would be to my new home, or to the rest of the country for that matter.

From 2002-04 I ran a non-profit called Rock 4 Reason throwing all-ages (mostly hardcore) shows in Southern Oregon. Many of my early ideas about how to connect with a crowd came from throwing those shows for some rad kids (who now have their own kids) and some really great bands. I am person who highly values friendship forged and memories made so when time allows I plan on uploading bunch of fliers from those shows.

Here is a somewhat incomplete list of the bands I booked:

Iknowkungfu, Combat Junkies, Showbread, Emery, Believing In June, The Dead Unknown, Physical Challenge, The Fall of Troy, Inked In Blood, Fear Before The March of Flames, Highwire Days, Gatsbys American Dream, Clarity Process, The Stivs, Long Since Forgotten, The Cinema, Anatomy of a Ghost, Dead Like Dallas, The Death Campaign, As I Lay Dying, Kat Jones, Insomniac Folklore, Countdown To Life, 800 Octane, Number One Gun, Schoolyard Heroes, A Taste For Murder, Ambitious Career Woman, Clarity Process, Blue Sky Mile, Compact 56, The Deal, Carl With A K!, Bitner, Brutal Fight, Rapid Fire Process, The Courtesy Clerks, EPD, Thirty3, The Decibel Network, The Creeps, Unfold, Shurman Steadfast, Suffering and The Hideous Thieves, The Locust, The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, The Empty, RBS Syndrome, Burning Room, Super Mutant, The Torpedo Kids, The Misfats, Left Waiting, This Days End, The Iotolas, Everyday Victory, and many more.

My Pizza My World is coming to Kansas City for the first time. This is Whitney from Days N’ Daze new side-project so come hang and and enjoy the tunes. Robber’s Roost is also on tour from Washington State. If you are in the mood for a rad folk punk, thrashgrass, or ragtime show this one’s for you. The show is all-ages at El Torreon and all-are-welcome.

Days N’ Daze are returning to KC. This will be one rad house show. DND are one of the best diy, thrash grass, folk punk bands around. I’m stoked to play our Nate Allen & The Pac-Away Dots, bluesy rock n’ roll / folk punk with them. Bring some money to throw in their gas tank and bring your friends. Let’s get sweaty together.

Pre-order Take Out The Trash our debut album.

“Take Out The Trash is an eargasm of blues, folk and punk, with soul-wrenching lyrics that remind us of the days when the meaning behind the music actually mattered” – Huffington Post

“Reminds me of when I first started to break away from listening to top 40’s music in 1984 when some one gave me a burned cassette of the first Violent Femmes album. It’s got some good punk edges but smart in the way Jonathan Richman is with an original driving sound.” – Tim Hovercraft Records

Some useful words about the album.

Take Out The Trash features immediately accessible rock n’ roll tunes infused with blues, folk and punk. These 10 vulnerable and explosive songs will have you humming all day long.

A bit of the story: in 2013 Nate Allen found himself fresh off a long tour, unemployed, in his early 30’s, married and living in his parent’s spare bedroom. Everyone’s dream.

His plan was to take a sabbatical from touring, get an after college job and let life reassemble. Instead, wrestling with how blind he had been to the racism all around him, he accidentally wrote and recorded an album documenting his process in that tenuous season of life.

What started as an acoustic solo project turned into a full band recording channeling the sounds of the Social Distortion, Old 97’s, Johnny Cash, Pedro The Lion, The Pine Hill Haints, Against Me!, Violent Femmes, Larry and His Flask, and Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, to name a few.

The Mixtape

We’ve put together a diverse “mixtape”, a peek at the many varied friends that we have made across the country. All pre-orders come with download of this mixtape via email. The independent artists on this playlist represent different genres and ideals, but the one thing that they all have in common is that they are friends of Nate and Tessa Allen. We blogged about each mixtape artist and every reward package will include a download of this playlist. Click on an artist name below to find out more.